Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta had lots of praise for his players after his side’s Tuesday’s 2-1 win at Nottingham Forest.
Goals in the second half from Gabriel Jesus and Bukayo Saka led the Gunners to a deserved victory on the road, a win set up by a fine all-round team performance.
Arteta was particularly pleased for Emile Smith Rowe, who has battled with injury problems of late and only made his first start in almost four months at the City ground.
Arteta delighted at Smith Rowe’s progress
“I think everybody was at a really good level”, Mikel told Arsenal.com at full-time.
“I’m really pleased with Emile as well because it’s been a long time since he had an opportunity to start a game. He’s been training really well, really sharp.”
“Gabby as well, because he had a slight problem in his knee and in the last two days, he was pushing every physio and myself to be out there with the team. He looked really sharp and he helped us to win the game.”
Smith Rowe was made his first Premier League start since October 2023. So what impressed the manager about his display?
“That he went for it, that he was free, he was flowing, he was moving, he was participating, his body language was good – he’s just a beautiful footballer to watch”, Mikel said.
“I’m really pleased because he was really connected with the team and I thought he played the game in a really good way.”
Elsewhere, Gabriel Jesus put in a fine performance with a goal and an assist on the evening. Despite missing several chances, he found the net via a composed finish with his right foot and revealed that strike is something he has been practicing in training.
“I’ve been working a lot – and one thing I’ve worked on is this kind of finishing”, he told Arsenal.com at full-time. “With the first one, when I hit the post, I was a little bit unlucky, but I kept trying.”
“[I’ve had] the support of my teammates and fans. They keep supporting me and sometimes you have to try something different to score – I think it was the best way to come back, score and then obviously to help the team as well.”
“All my teammates played amazingly tonight and that’s why we won the game.”
“It’s not easy coming here. They have a good team, the crowd is amazing, they push the team a lot and when they scored a goal in the last four minutes, the crowd went crazy and then pushed them.”
“The best way to control a team like them is keeping the ball, moving the front players, moving everywhere to try to create something.”
“Unfortunately we didn’t score in the first half, but the second half we talked a little bit, made some changes and then we scored [two]. It’s good.”
